Combination of fractional carbon dioxide laser with recombinant human collagen in periocular skin rejuvenation.

BACKGROUND: The most visible sign of facial aging is often seen in the periocular area. However, periocular rejuvenation remains challenging due to the particularity of periocular anatomic locations. AIMS: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the fractional-ablative CO2 laser-facilitated recombinant human collagen permeation in periocular rejuvenation. PATIENTS/METHODS: This 3-month prospective single-blinded and self-controlled trial enrolled 26 patients with periocular aging who underwent the treatments of fractional-ablative CO2 laser along with laser-facilitated recombinant human collagen permeation. Following the treatments, the patients were quantitatively assessed by various periocular skin aging indices before and after the treatment and monitored for any related adverse events. RESULTS: The patients showed significant improvements with the periocular skin aging indices 3 months after the treatments, which were detailed with a 47.3% decrease in lower eyelid skin rhytids, a 41.4% decrease in the lower eyelid skin texture, a 35.0% decrease in the static crow's feet, a 29.3% decrease in the amount of upper eyelid laxity, and a 20.2% increase in the MRD1 as compared with baseline (p < 0.05). Moreover, total skin thickness under ultrasound was increased in both upper and lower eyelids (5.6% and 3.3%, p < 0.05, respectively). Moreover, six patients (23.1%, 6/26) had erythema for 2 weeks, and two (2/26, 7.7%) had mild hyperpigmentation for 3 months. CONCLUSIONS: Fractional-ablative CO2 laser combined with laser-facilitated recombinant human collagen permeation can be a safe and effective treatment for periocular rejuvenation.

Recalcitrant nodular scabies showing excellent response to tofacitinib: five case reports.

Scabies is a contagious skin condition caused by Sarcoptes scabiei, and it is always associated with an intense, unbearable, nocturnal deteriorating itch. Its presentations include classic burrows, erythema, pruritic papules, pustules, vesicles, and inflammatory nodules, with diffuse or localized distribution on the finger webs, wrist flexors, elbows, axillae, buttocks, genitalia, and breasts. Nodular scabies is an uncommon clinical variant of scabies. Its management is still challenging for some patients up to date, although topical, intralesional or systemic corticosteroids, topical calcineurin inhibitors, and crotamiton as well as cryotherapy alone or in different combinations are used. We here report five male patients of nodular scabies, aged between 14 and 25 years, who had classical scabies that had been cured by sulfur ointment for at least 4 weeks except for their itching nodules, and their residual pruritic nodules also failed in previous treatments including antihistamines, topical applying and intralesional injection of steroids as well as topical tacrolimus in different combinations before being recruited to this study. The patients were administered tofacitinib 5 mg, twice a day, which led to excellent and rapid improvement for both lesions and symptoms after 1-4 weeks of treatment, respectively, without any associations. During 6 months of follow-up, only one had re-infection of scabies associated with nodules that were cured by sulfur ointment and tofacitinib again. No adverse reaction was observed. The present results suggested that tofacitinib might be a potential agent for nodular scabies with excellent response.

Association between psoriasis and coronary artery calcification: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Psoriasis and atherosclerosis have overlapping pathophysiological mechanisms. However, the association between psoriasis and coronary artery calcification (CAC), a hallmark of atherosclerosis and a predictor of poor cardiovascular prognosis, remains to be determined. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to comprehensively evaluate the association between these related inflammatory conditions. Methods: Observational studies evaluating the relationship between psoriasis and CAC were retrieved by searching PubMed, Cochrane's Library, and Embase databases. Presence of CAC was confirmed according to an Agatston's Score >0 upon computed tomography examination. A random-effect model incorporating between-study heterogeneity was used to pool the results. Results: Sixteen studies involving 3,039 patients with psoriasis and 46,191 controls without psoriasis were included in the meta-analysis. All participants were without previously known cardiovascular diseases. Pooled results showed that psoriasis was associated with overall CAC [odds ratio (OR): 1.54, 95% confidence interval: 1.23-1.91, p < 0.001; I 2 = 57%], after matching or adjusting the conventional cardiovascular risk factors. Subgroup analyses showed that study country, comorbidity of psoriatic arthritis, baseline Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, and duration of psoriasis (p for subgroup difference all >0.05) did not significantly affect the association of psoriasis and CAC. However, a stronger association was observed in younger patients (mean age <50 years, OR: 2.63, p < 0.001) compared to older patients (≥50 years, OR: 1.24, p = 0.02; p for subgroup difference <0.001). Conclusion: Psoriasis is associated with CAC, and the association may be stronger in younger patients.

Auricular erythermalgia showing excellent response to itraconazole: a case report.

Erythermalgia, a rare painful disorder, is characterized by recurrent pain attacking, warmth, and erythema that mainly involves the distal extremities. Red ear syndrome shares similar clinical features of erythermalgia afflicting the external ear with unilateral/bilateral distribution. The treatments of both diseases are still difficult without controlled therapeutics available up to date. A 12-year-old boy was referred because of 3 years of recurrent attacking of painful erythema and warmth that involved the ears alone, the episodes occurred several times daily with duration of dozens of minutes to hours for each flare. The symptoms could be relieved by cold water and triggered by heat stimuli as well as exciting and movement, and showed mild response to gabapentin, celecoxib, and topical lidocaine compounds in combination, but moderate to blocking injection of botulinum toxin to nervus auricularis magnus. However, systemic itraconazole 200 mg daily resulted in an excellent response after 5-week treatment, leading to milder erythema, warmth and burning sensation, shorter duration, and fewer relapses. The treatment continued for 6 months and then itraconazole was decreased to 100 mg daily for another 6 months until it was stopped, with maintenance of good conditions. In 3 months of follow-up after the treatment ceased, the patient had only 7 to 8 attacks over 10 days presenting as tolerable erythema that lasted for less than 10 min and relieved spontaneously, with absence of warmth and no need of treatment. We considered the patient to be a variant of erythermalgia rather than a red ear syndrome. The results showed that erythermalgia might involve the ears alone and itraconazole might be a potential agent for its treatment.

Ruthenium(II) complexes coordinated to graphitic carbon nitride: Oxygen self-sufficient photosensitizers which produce multiple ROS for photodynamic therapy in hypoxia.

The photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cancer is limited by tumor hypoxia as PDT efficiency depends on O2 concentration. A novel oxygen self-sufficient photosensitizer (Ru-g-C3N4) was therefore designed and synthesized via a facile one-pot method in order to overcome tumor hypoxia-induced PDT resistance. The photosensitizer is based on [Ru(bpy)2]2+ coordinated to g-C3N4 nanosheets by Ru-N bonding. Compared to pure g-C3N4, the resulting nanosheets exhibit increased water solubility, stronger visible light absorption, and enhanced biocompatibility. Once Ru-g-C3N4 is taken up by hypoxic tumor cells and exposed to visible light, the nanosheets not only catalyze the decomposition of H2O2 and H2O to generate O2, but also catalyze H2O2 and O2 concurrently to produce multiple ROS (•OH, •O2-, and 1O2). In addition, Ru-g-C3N4 affords luminescence imaging, while continuously generating O2 to alleviate hypoxia greatly improving PDT efficacy. To the best of our knowledge, this oxygen self-sufficient photosensitizer produced via grafting a metal complex onto g-C3N4 is the first of its type to be reported.

Ruthenium(II) complexes as bioorthogonal two-photon photosensitizers for tumour-specific photodynamic therapy against triple-negative breast cancer cells.

Herein, we developed the first Ru(ii) complex-based bioorthogonal two-photon photosensitizers. Through bioorthogonal labelling, they realize effective tumour-specific photodynamic therapy against triple-negative breast cancer cells.

Recurrent Talaromyces marneffei Infection Presenting with Intestinal Obstruction in a Patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Talaromyces marneffei is an important opportunistic pathogen mainly afflicting the HIV-infected patients, in rare instance, it could cause infection in non-HIV-infected individuals. We report a 51-year-old Chinese woman who, with histories of SLE for 14 years and disseminated talaromycosis for 4 years, occurred partial intestinal obstruction that was demonstrated to be caused by Talaromyces marneffei infection. The randomly amplified polymorphic DNA results of paraffin-embedded tissues from both the present episode and the previous infection suggested that the present infection was a recurrent. The patient was performed excision of involved intestine and treated with oral itraconazole at a daily dose of 400 mg for 3 months, leading to an excellent response. However, she died with unknown reason more than a year later. We also reviewed the literature on Talaromyces marneffei infection associated with SLE as well as intestinal talaromycosis alone.

Hemorrhagic bulla: a rare presentation of scabies.

Scabies is a contagious skin disorder with multiple presentations, it can also cause nosocomial infection sometimes. Bullous scabies is its rare subtype with male predilection, and typically occurs in the elderly with a median age of 70 years. We herein report a 90-year-old man who was hospitalized in the ward presenting with generalized infection of scabies associated with hemorrhagic bullae on both feet and hands, and leading to a prevalence in the ward. All the lesions including the bullae had excellent response to 10% sulfur ointment alone. No relapse occurred in more than 9 months of follow-up.

Erythermalgia Involving the Face Alone: Two Case Reports.

Erythermalgia is a rare cutaneous disease characterized by episodic attacks of burning pain, erythema, and increased temperature. It primarily involves the extremities, with possible extensions to the ears, face, neck, and scrotum; in rare instances, it may afflict the ears, face, or the scrotum alone. Although various medications alone or in different combinations have been tried with significant variations in response, no recommended therapeutics have been established until very recently. This report presents two case histories of a 20-year-old and a 46-year-old woman, respectively, who displayed intermittent facial erythema associated with warmth and pain during the episodes and who presented normal between episodes. Both had good response to combinative treatments of systemic medication and topical lidocaine compounds. The younger was disease-free after more than 4 years of follow-up, and the older had recurrence after stopping the treatment. Conclusion: Erythermalgia may involve the face alone, and combinative approaches may be of choice for its treatment. Topical lidocaine compounds are considered to be a good option for palliative treatment.

Intradermal Growing Hair: Two Case Reports.

Hair growing inside the skin and burrowing in the uppermost dermis, previously termed as "ingrowing hair," is a rarely reported cutaneous disorder. Up to July 31, 2018, only five cases have been reported, all were male. The authors report two Chinese Han men, 26-year-old and 31-year-old respectively, presenting with progressive extending black lines inside the skin on the right mandibular angle and the neck respectively. The black lines were finally demonstrated as growing beard hairs. The 26-year-old man was cured after the hair was pulled out, whereas the 31-year-old patient had re-occurrence after the initial hair was extracted and was cured finally by destroying the individual beard follicle. The authors would prefer the term of "intradermal growing hair" to "ingrowing hair" when describing the condition of hair growing inside the skin and extending in the uppermost dermis. Pulling out the growing hair, and sometimes destroying the beard follicle, may be of choice for its treatment.

Diverse expression of TNF-α and CCL27 in serum and blister of Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis.

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS)/toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) is not fully understood. Our previous study reported that chemokine CCL27 was overexpressed in serum of SJS/TEN patients. The objective of this study was to investigate the levels of CCL27 and TNF-α in serum and blister fluid from patients with SJS/TEN during the acute stage or resolution phase. METHODS: A total of 27 patients with SJS/TEN and 39 healthy donors were recruited to the study. Serum and vesicular levels of CCL27 and TNF-α were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. RESULTS: Serum levels of CCL27 and TNF-α were significantly elevated in patients with SJS/TEN during the acute stage as compared to the resolution phase and also compared with levels observed in normal controls (P = 0.001/< 0.001; P = 0.012/< 0.001). Serum TNF-α levels were significantly higher in patients with SJS/TEN during the resolution phase compared with normal controls (P < 0.001). Serum CCL27 levels were positively correlated with TNF-α levels during the acute stage (rs = 0.660; P < 0.001). Blister fluid exhibited much lower CCL27 levels than serum did during the acute stage (P = 0.008). TNF-α levels were much higher in vesicles in contrast to serum from acute stage (P = 0.040) as well as serum from resolution phase (P = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated roles of CCL27 and TNF-α in promoting the course of SJS/TEN. CCL27 may act early in the course of disease, via the circulation, whereas TNF-α acts throughout the course of disease, in skin lesions.